
%.*"■ -'Mm-. \>/ -A'-: %.** '-^^^^■'" "- 



so ^ «,^ "^ ' 





^^H. 




■Mb* .\^ ^v* 







.•\ 






^"'•x-. ■-: 



c .ts :/ \..^ * ^:' Sill ._■:•■ J 






::m^^, X^^' ^>W \^/ ;;f^«N'. ^^^ .^%.^:^^: 



•^^ 



'* ""M "^ l*" * ' ' "^ ^ 



- - - * V °^ 



'•> 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF 
BERLIN, CONNECTICUT 



AN 
HISTORICAL PAPER 

DELIVERED BEFORE 

The Emma Hart Willard Chapter 
D. A. R. 

JANUARY 17. 1913 



BY 

EMILY S. BRANDEGEE 






^^"-f^ 






EARLY HISTORY OF BERLIN, CONNECTICUT 



"Wild was the day: the wintry sea 

Moaned sadly on New England's strand 
When first the thoughtful and the free, 
Our fathers, trod this desert land." 

How little we have thought of those who toiled and suffered 
that we might have peace and comfort. This beautiful town 
of Berlin owes a great debt of gratitude to those men and women 
for their courage and for the principles of industry and upright- 
ness which they inculcated in their descendents. 

Sergeant Richard Beckley, the first settler in our town, 
came from New Haven to Beckley Quarter, which was then a 
part of Wethersfield, in 1660. He was a planter, and a man of 
some importance, and he always sat in the men's second seat 
in church. He was elected Sergeant of Artillery in 1659 and 
had held other offices in the New Haven Colony. He vdted 
in Wethersfield in 1662. Of the Indian Chief Tarramuggus 
he purchased 300 acres of land lying on both sides of the Matta- 
besett river. The original deed of this land is in the possession 
of one of his descendants today. His house probably stood 
not far from where Mr. Norman Beckley now lives. 

Tradition says there was an Indian settlement along the 
Mattabesett river south of Beckley Quarter. These Indians were 
known as the Mattabesetts, a sub-tribe of the Wongunks, and 
their hunting grounds extended as far south as the straits below 
Middlctown. Middletown, until 1653, was called Mattabesett. 
For many years Richard Beckley and his family were the only 
white people living among the Indians in Beckley Quarter. 
One Sunday while he was at church in Wethersfield two Indians 
entered his house and stole some of his goods. He complained 
to those in authority in Hartford and received remuneration. 
This is the only record of his having had trouble with the Indians. 
He died in 1690, and his will provided well for his widow and 
six children. 

Farmington was settled in 1640, only seven years after the 
first settlement in the state, but it was not incorporated as a 



4 Early History of Berlin, Connecticut 

town until 1645. It was fifteen miles from north to south 
and by additions made afterwards was twelve or thirteen miles 
in width. It extended southerly to the tract held by the New 
Haven Colony, now Meriden. When the first recorded census 
of Hartford County was taken in 1756, Middletown, then in 
Hartford County, was the most populous; but in 1774 Farm- 
ington had become the first town in the County. Its rich 
farming lands were very attractive to the settlers and it was 
known at first as Tunxis plantation, named for the Indians in 
that vicinity. The houses of the early settlers were mostly on 
what is now Main Street. In the sale of lands the Indians 
usually reserved certain rights of hunting and fishing and 
engaged on their part to warn the English of danger. The 
Mohawks from the valley of the Hudson were under the control 
of the French, and in the wars between France and England 
were in the habit of making raids upon the Colonies, and the 
exposed position of Farmington, then on the frontier, made 
constant vigilance necessary. 

In August, 1661, the General Court made a grant of three 
hundred acres of land to Jonathan Gilbert, and in March of 
the next year a grant was made to Daniel Clark and John 
Moore, of 400 acres. In 1672 Jonathan Gilbert bought Clark's 
tract and added it to his, his land now extending from the 
southeastern part of New Britain as far south as the present 
bounds of Meriden. 

Captain Andrew Belcher, a wealthy merchant of Boston, 
married one of Gilbert's daughters and bought the tract of 
his father-in-law. He then proceeded to make improvements 
by opening highways and building tenements. He added to 
his land and the southern part became known as Merideen, 
or Moridan, and the northern part as Great Swamp. A portion 
of one of the highways in the northern part, afterwards known 
as Christian Lane, was laid out parallel with the boundary 
line between Wethersfield and Farmington, and twenty-two 
rods west of it. It was upon this road, running directly north 
and south for about a mile, that the settlement of the Great 
Swamp society was made. It was on a portion of Belcher's 



Early Hist()r3' of Berlin, Connecticut 5 

tract that Richard Seymour and others from Farmington 
Center began a settlement, between 1686 and 1687. They 
built a fort or palisade of poles sixteen feet high sharpened 
at the top and driven into the ground as near together as pos- 
sible to keep out Indians and wild beasts. The gate was guarded 
and cabins were built inside and a well was dug in the center. 
Into this fort they all went at night for protection. 

After a few years Belcher and others realized how rich 
the soil was in this region and questions arose as to his title 
to a portion of the tract. Wishing to have the matter settled 
he applied to the General Assembly in October, 1703; his 
rights were allowed and when the title to the property was 
cleared of all doubt the settlers built new houses, at first near 
the fort, afterwards at some distance north and south. They 
were living in the southeastern part of Farmington and there 
were eight or nine miles between them and the church which 
stood in Farmington Center. They were obliged to rise very 
early Sunday morning, put their guns on their shoulders and 
with their wives and children follow the Indian trails, over 
and around the mountain, to the meeting house. 

There was no complaint and no expressed wish for a change 
until after the death of the Rev. Samuel Hooker, in 1695. 
There was a long interim before his successor was chosen. The 
paths were blocked with snow and it was difficult to attend 
church. Then the people of Great Swamp began to desire a 
minister of their own. In 1705 a petition was presented to 
the town of Farmington and the General Assembly for a new 
society. Their petitions were granted but a church was not 
organized until some years later. They held services in their 
homes and the Rev. William Burnham was engaged in 1707. 
He was a graduate of Harvard and came from Wethersfield. 
He accepted a call to settle as pastor in 1709, although he was 
not regularly ordained until December 10, 1712, when the house 
was ready and the Church organized. 

There were ten members. The D. A. R. of Meriden have 
marked the spot where the early church stood. It was known 
as the Second Church of Farmington in the Great Swamp 



6 Early Historj of Berlin, Connecticut 

Parish. It was a very simple building, no chimney, no steeple, 
and no pulpit or permanent seats were provided until 1716. 

In 1715 the people living in what is now Beckley Quarter 
petitioned Wethersfield that they might join the Great Swamp 
Society and in 1718 the people dwelling on Berlin Street and 
in East Berlin, both places being a part of Middletown, asked 
to join the Great Swamp Parish. It was necessary now to 
put galleries in the church. 

Captain Richard Seymour who had lead the party to this 
settlement in the southeastern part of Farmington and had 
guarded the fort, did not live to see the church finished. He 
was killed while felling a tree and was the first one buried in 
what is now known as the Old Christian Lane Cemetery. 

Some years have now passed and the Parish of Great 
Swamp has increased in numbers. The farms are rich and 
fertile and they do not care to be called Great Swamp. In 
May, 1722, they petitioned Farmington and the General Assem- 
bly that the name of their parish might be changed to Ken- 
sington. It was granted, and the Second Church of Farmington 
now stood in the parish of Kensington. They wished to be 
made a town, but Farmington and the General Assembly would 
not allow it and Kensington was never a town. The Parish 
of Kensington covered about the same area as Berlin did in 
1785 when it was first set off as a town. Parishes in those days 
were made from a number of towns and it sometimes caused 
a great deal of confusion in paying the taxes. 

On the farms wheat and rye had been planted and potatoes 
were growing in abundance. There was flax for the spinning 
wheels and peas were grown at a very early date; then there 
was an Indian bean from which they made a porridge. Whether 
it was the kind some liked hot, and some liked cold, and some 
liked in the pot nine days old, I do not know, but it was a kidney- 
shaped bean. There were large fields of Indian corn. On some 
of the land purchased by the early settlers in Farmington com 
was already growing. It is said that Benjamin Franklin found 
a single seed of broom corn in a whisk made probably in the 
East Indies, and a Wethersfield man in 1797 made the first 



Early History of Berlin, Connecticut 7 

broom from the plant. The Indian splint brooms were used 
until 1800. The new corn brooms were made round at first. 
The woods were full of game, and ducks and geese were swim- 
ming on the ponds, and wild turkeys were often seen. Just 
below the mill in Beckley Quarter shad could be caught and in 
the early spring there were quantities of alcwives. All this 
sounds very interesting but there were Indians around and the 
Indians were treacherous. A man could not work in his garden 
without having his gun where he could use it at a moment's 
notice. 

The meeting house had now become too small and between 
1729 and 1730 a vote was taken to build a new one, but where to 
build was the question. The site which had been selected by 
a vote of six was on the north side of Mill river near the old 
Hotchkiss place on Sargeant John Norton's lot, but there was 
too much opposition. Finally it was voted to decide the ques- 
tion by lot; The result which would have placed the site quite 
a distance east of the first place was unsatisfactory and they 
called upon the ministers from the neighboring churches to 
tell them if the lot were binding. They thought it was, but 
the people would not build; they said the lot was cast after 
sunset. Then they called upon the General Assembly to affix 
the spot and the General Assembly sent a committee. The 
committe chose Deacon Hart's ground which was on the north- 
west corner of Farmington road and Porter Pass, about oppo- 
site to the Mott place. The spot was chosen but nothing was 
done until the General Assembly told Farmington to tax them 
so much a head and a committee was sent from Hartford to 
see that the church was built. It was sixty feet by forty-five. 
It probably had a high pulpit with a sounding board above, 
square seats and galleries like those in the church in Farmington 
Center. A special box or stall was made for the negro servants 
in those days; it was high up behind the singers' gallery, as 
far as possible from the pulpit. It is said they provided a 
place for them in the church, not because they thought they 
had any souls worth saving but because they did not like to 
leave them at home. In 1774 there were G,464 Indian and 
negro slaves in the Colony and that year further transportation 



8 Early History of Berlin, Connecticut 

was forbidden. Our forefathers always spoke of them as 
servants and often supported them when they were no longer 
useful. There was one of these servants who had belonged to 
Hartford people cared for in Beckley Quarter within the mem- 
ory of Mr." William Bulkeley. 

The new building was occupied by the Second Church of 
Farmington in 1733. They had a drum to call the people to 
meeting and an hourglass to mark the length of the sermon. 
The Church was all properly seated according to age, list and 
whatever makes a man honorable, or as Whittier describes it: 

To the goodly house of worship, where, in order due 

and fit, 
As by public vote directed, classed and ranked the 

people sit; 
Mistress first and good wife after, clerkly squire before 

the clown. 
From the brave coat, lace-embroidered to the grey 

frock, shading down. 

In 1750 their beloved pastor, the Rev. William Burnham, 
died and was buried in the Christian Lane Cemetery, which 
was then in the Parish of Kensington. The last years of his 
life were not very peaceful on account of the lack of harmony 
in the church. The question of the division of the Society was 
brought to the attention of the General Assembly every year 
from 1739 to 1754, when an act limiting the bounds of the 
Parish of Kensington and for establishing one other ecclesi- 
astical society in Farmington, in the County of Hartford, was 
granted and about fifty left the Second Church of Farmington 
and helped to form the first church in the Parish of New Britain 
in 1758. 

Six years after the death of Mr. Burnham and one year 
after the New Britain division, the Rev. Samuel Clark was 
called to be pastor of the Second Church of Farmington and the 
vote was nearly unanimous. Hand in hand with the church 
went the schoolhouse. Farmington had schools at a very 
early date. It is said that the Tunxis Indians gathered their 
boy warriors together on Sundays to be taught by the white 
squaws, as they called them. The Chief wanted his boys to 



Enrly History of Berlin, Connecticut 9 

learn of the Great Being who was all eyes, could see all things, 
and could tell even the thoughts. "This was probably the first 
Sunday School in this country." For many years there was an 
Indian school in Farmington, afterwards the Indian boys 
attended the district schools and some of them were educated 
enough to do business requiring reading and writing. At 
first the boys in Great Swamp went to school in Farmington 
Center or were taught at home, and property in the new society 
was taxed the same as in other parts of Farmington. If there 
was no schoolhouse the teacher boarded and taught in private 
houses, going from one to the other as the shoemaker went to 
make shoes for the family. 

It was not thought necessary to educate girls in those days; 
their occupation was to scour the pewter, run the spinning 
wheels, wash the dishes and tend the hens and geese. As late 
as the year 1785 the town of Northampton voted not to be at 
any expense for schooling girls. 

For many years the control of schools was in the hands of 
the town. In 1650 it was made obligatory for every town with 
fifty householders to appoint a schoolmaster. When this 
obligation was extended to societies Great Swamp in 1718 
appointed a committee to find out the best method for con- 
ducting a school. The committee reported that the Parish was 
so scattered they advised that it be divided into five parts or 
squaddoms. "The first squaddom shall be all the inhabitants 
south of the Mattabesett river, including Middletown neighbors; 
the inhabitants of Beckley Quarter, which was a part of Weth- 
ersfield, be another part, and all from the Mattabesett river 
to the river called Gilbird, northward, be another part, and 
from Gilbird's river northward till it include Deacon Judd and 
John Woodruff be another part, and the rest of the society 
north would make another, part" The money allowed by the 
society was to be divided among the squaddoms according to 
the list of inhabitants. 

At first one teacher was hired, teaching in the different 
sections a few weeks at a time; afterwards there was a different 
teacher for each district. The system of school districts was 



10 Early History of Berlin, Connecticut 

established in 1766. There is an old building back of the tin 
shop on Deacon North's hill which was probably built about 
1802. It was used for many years as a school on Worthington 
Ridge and stood where the little brick house now stands, oppo- 
site to the Worthington School. Wethersfield had a school 
at a very early date in what is now Beckley Quarter, and in 
1748 on Savage Hill, which was then a part of Middletown. 
A school was taught at the home of John Savage two months 
in the year. 

For nearly forty years our forefathers had been worship- 
ping in the meeting house on the northwest corner of Farmington 
road and Porter Pass. The house had needed repairing and for a 
number of years they had been asking for another division. 
In 1772 they called upon the General Assembly to settle the 
matter. Their petition was granted and a committee consisting 
of Col. Worthington of Springfield, Col. Oliver Partridge of 
Hatfield and Mr. Eldad Taylor of Westfield was appointed. 
They advised a division into two distinct ecclesiastical societies, 
and the Society of Kensington was divided into two new parishes, 
one to be named Worthington after Col. Worthington and the 
other to take the old name of Kensington. The line between 
the parishes was the same as it is today. Wherever the General 
Assembly drove the stake there the church had to be built. 
The building now used for the Worthington school was the old 
meeting house in the Worthington Society, while the one in 
the new Kensington Parish is still occupied as a church. 

For a while they continued to worship together in the Second 
Church of Farmington, which now stood in the Worthington 
Parish and the old Christian Lane Cemetery was also in the 
Worthington Parish. When the Second Church of Farmington 
was pulled down some of the timbers were used in building the 
two new churches. "It was voted in the Worthington Society, 
September 28, that this Society will draw off from the old 
meeting house and meet the first time for the opening the new 
meeting house on Thursday ye 13th day of October, 1774," 
and it was voted "March 16, 1775, that this Society do make 
a grant and donation of our part of ye old meeting house, as 



Early History of Berlin, Connecticut 11 

it now stands to any persons in the Society who will mutually 
agree by the first day of April next and be at the cost of taking 
down and removing the same, for the purpose of Sabbath 
or horse house, etc., near our present meeting house." There 
were ninety-five members. The church in the new Kensington 
Society was dedicated December 1, 1774, with eighty-nine 
members. They could not divide the Rev. Samuel Clark who 
was settled over the Second Church of Farmington, so both 
societies gave him a call. He deliberated he had been their 
pastor for eighteen years and it was hard for him to see his 
flock divided, but he had built himself a house in the new Ken- 
sington Parish so he thought it best for him to be settled in 
that society, and he became their first pastor. He was not 
able to serve them very long because he left this world November 
6, 1775. 

There is one pewter tankard remaining from the early 
communion service. Whether two were all they ever owned 
I do not know, but I read of a minister in one of the New England 
meeting houses complaining of the Lord's table not being pro- 
vided with aught else but two pewter tankards. 

Berlin was set off as a town in 1785. The first town meet- 
ing was held in Kensington Parish June 13, 1785, and a committee 
was appointed to settle accounts with Farmington and adjust 
all matters between Farmington and Berlin and similar com- 
mittees were appointed for Middletown and Wethersfield. 

The first annual meeting was held in the New Britain 
Parish, December 5, 1785. The next year the annual meeting 
was held in the Worthington Society. Afterwards the town 
meetings continued to be held in rotation in the three societies, 
usually in the meeting houses. For convenience sake the 
church in the New Kensington Parish was called the First 
Church of Berlin, and the Rev. Royal Robbins always spoke 
of it as the First Church of Berlin in the Kensington Society. 
The church in the New Britain Parish was named the Second 
Church of Berlin, and the Worthington church was the Third. 
When New Britain was set off from Berlin in 1850, the Wor- 
thington cliurch became the Second Congregational Church of 



12 Early History of Berlin, Connecticut 

Berlin. All this does not seem so very long ago when we realize 
that the home of the Rev. William Burnham, beloved pastor 
of the Second Church of Farmington, was pulled down in 1911, 
and Miss Hannah Root is living in a house which was built 
in 1712 and there is a barn on her place which was erected in 
1705. Yet how many changes there have been in those two 
hundred years, in modes of living and ways of thinking. Our 
Puritan forefathers would be astonished at many things we do. 

Berlin has become a beautiful village with fine residences 
and attractive roads for driving and automobiling, while the 
little parish of New Britain which belonged to Berlin until 
1850, is a great manufacturing center, and thousands of its 
foreign workmen were familiar with the name of New Britain 
before leaving their native lands. 

Thanks are due for historical information to the New 
Britain and Wethersfield histories, and to Miss C. M. North 
and Mr. Wilham Bulkeley of Berlin. 



At a General Assembly of the Governor and company of the Colony 
of Connecticut Holden at New Haven on the Second Thurs- 
day of October, Anno Domini 1772; 

Upon the Memorial of the Society of Kensington in the 
Town of Farmington, in the County of Hartford, by their 
agent showing to this Assembly that it is best and absolutely 
necessary for their mutual peace and real happiness as well as 
from their limits, situation, extent and wealth and other re- 
spects, that said Society should be divided into two distinct 
Ecclesiastical Societies by a north and south line which they 
have a long time labored to effect, and said Society having now 
mutually agreed that the most reasonable line of division will 
be in the following manner and form: (to wit) Beginning at 
the south line of the said Society at the place where the river 
called Belcher's river crosses the said line, thence extending 
northerly by said river until it comes to the Four Rods High- 
way, so called, thence on the same highway until it comes to 
the south side of Selah Heart, Esq.'s, land thence east on the 



Early History of Berlin, Connecticut 13 

line of said Heart's land to the same river again, thence north- 
erly a direct course, leaving said Heart's now land on the west; 
if any of it should happen to fall east of said course to a point 
on the highway ten feet east of Deacon Ebenezer Heart's dwell- 
ing house, from thence north to the north line of said Society, 
to include however the whole of said Deacon Heart's farm on 
which he now dwells in said West Society. 

And it is also further agreed that one or other of said 
Societies so to be divided will accept and receive the Reverend 
Mr. Clark, the present pastor, for their minister as he shall 
choose, and that such of such Societies with whom he shall 
incline to continue shall and will in future engage to perform 
and fulfill to him the contract now subsisting between him 
and said Society of Kensington: 

And it is also further agreed that the most convenient 
and suitable place for building a meeting house in said cast 
proposed Society is at a stake set near a maple tree in the divid- 
ing line between the lots of Solomon Dunham and Benjamin 
Galpin, and the most convenient place for that purpose in said 
west part is a little westward of the dwelling house of Daniel 
Cole Jun. where a stake was lately set up between two large 
stones in the middle of the highway. And said Society by 
their agents Selah Heart, Esq., and Jedediah Norton now moving 
that said line of division and the places fixed for the building of 
meeting houses may be satisfied and established, and that 
such of said Societies with whom the said Mr. Clark shall 
incline to continue may be held to fulfill to him the contract 
now subsisting as aforesaid, and that each of said Societies may 
be enabled to proceed in the building of a meeting house at the 
places aforesaid, as per memorial and the votes and doings of 
said Society, etc., appears. 

Wherefore and that peace and harmony may be restored 
to them, etc. It is resolved by this Assembly that the said 
Society of Kensington shall be and the same is hereby divided 
into two distinct Ecclesiastical Societies with full powers and 
privileges as other Societies by law have and do enjoy according 
to the lines, bounds and limits before mentioned and described, 



14 Early History of Berlin, Connecticut 

and that West Society shall retain and be called by the name 
of Kensington and that the said East Society shall be called 
by the name of Worthington and that such of said Societies 
with whom the said Mr. Clark shall choose or signify his willing- 
ness or desire to continue as their minister, shall for the future 
perform and fulfil to him the contract now subsisting between 
him and said whole Society so long as he shall remain in the 
work of the ministry among them. 

And it is further resolved and ordered that the several 
places fixed for the building of meeting houses as aforesaid 
shall and the same are hereby established to be the most proper 
and convenient for that purpose and each of said two Societies 
shall have full power, and full power and authority is hereby 
given to them by their Major Vote to lay taxes and raise and 
levy money for the building of such house or houses at the 
places aforesaid as they shall severally so vote and agree to 
build and erect for Divine and public worship in said Societies. 

And whereas the interest of the Reverend Mr. Clark may 
be materially affected by the division aforesaid and by his 
being obliged to remove from his present situation it is therefore 
further resolved that Colonel Jabez Hamlin, Major Erastus 
Wollcott and Major Elisha Williams be and they are hereby 
appointed a committee with full power to notify all concerned 
and to examine into and consider of all circumstances relative 
to the said Mr. Clark's interest, and for the same may be affected 
by the division aforesaid and what compensation if any ought 
to be made him and by whom and generally whatever shall 
appear necessary or expedient that full and complete justice 
may be done to the said Reverend Mr. Clark in the premises 
and report their opinion thereon to this Assembly in May 
next, unless some previous agreement shall be come into con- 
cerning the matters aforesaid. 

The foregoing is a true copy from the original entry. 

That is attested by Samuel Heart, Societies Clerk. 
Attested by me, 

ROGER RILEY, Clerk. 



^0 1 8 3L 




0" "♦ 



'J. 'o 




^9 /A^ ^\ 







0" 




.o 
















tf o aO ^, » vi. , - A.P^ 

^^ ""^' .V 



■0^ 









"^o. 



\v s • • > 



^- -^U-o^ .\f^ ^ov^ ^ ^^r. ^-^0^ .V^^'^ ^ov^ 

'O. 'o , . • A. <V *v .. .* 



^^% 
























"o. 



A 












> .^°"^.. ' 



DOBBSBROS. "^^ 

LIBRARV DINDINO - , fi 






.0^- ,0'^ 



-1 '^^ 






^ 






<'. 



n 

"**- 



ST. AUGUSTINE . i ' • ^ "^ 



■ ^' 



a\' 



AUGUSTINE . I ' • ^ "o j.'^' c " " " •» '<^>, 

f "Ss FLA f'^'rZ-J. ^ ,-i . .-^^ ■.<•, ^ -j 



0^ 



.,V 



-^^o^ 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




